It's been two years since
the world was introduced
to Darth Vader's young
apprentice. From serving
the Dark Lord of the Sith
to helping to birth the
Rebellion, the young
apprentice, Starkiller,
finds that he is unusually
strong in the Force, but
which side will he
ultiimately choose and
what is he willing to
sacrifice? In
2010, Starkiller is back
(in many many ways)
and he hasn't quite
finished unleashing the
force on unsuspecting
members of the new Empire.
Returning right alongside
the identity-challlenged
apprentice, General Kota,
Juno Eclipse and Darth
Vader, to continue
musically-bridging the
Prequel and Original
trilogies in THE FORCE
UNLEASHED 2 is composer
MARK GRISKEY.

Join with us as we go with
them all BEHIND THE SCORE
OF THE FORCE UNLEASHED 2. In
this edition:

CC:
What was it like to come back to THE FORCE UNLEASHED
after a year or so?

MARK GRISKEY: It was pretty cool. I loved the first
game, and it was great to have a little bit of
distance from it, and come back to that whole
franchise again, with a bit of a fresh take on it. I
think that the whole team had that attitude. We're
not doing anything radically different here. We're
obviously continuing the storyline where we left
off, but we're trying to improve the game and make
it cooler and more “unleashed” than the original
one. Everything that worked, we're keeping.

For me, as a composer, it was nice to have hammered
out some initial themes and groundwork for the first
game. It was more of a fully developed game-score,
but there were some questions we had in terms of
musical direction. Everything from “How do we tie it
into STAR WARS”, to “How do we make that
transition”, to “How do we put it into the timeline
to fit in the STAR WARS musical universe between
episodes III and IV?” There was also the question of
coming up with character themes. Some of that stuff
was established, so it felt like we had some anchor
points, but we had some new characters, new planets
and a new story-line. It was comfortable enough
because it wasn't completely new territory. I think,
even for the first game, I was comfortable with the
STAR WARS musical language that had been established
in the films, and certainly for the games that I've
worked on in the past.
There was a certain kind of pressure to really
define some of the musical vocabulary for the FORCE
UNLEASHED. I felt like this time around, I had a
little more fun with it. It felt like that part was
a little easier to run with. The schedule was very
aggressive. There was a lot of music to do in a very
short period of time. You're always going to have
those deadline challenges, but I felt like I knew
this character a little bit more, and I know the
story-line a little bit more. I've already gone
through one iteration of it, so it felt great. I
said to myself, “Let's jump back in and do this”.

Introduced
to fans in 2008 was a new chapter of
the ever-expanding, Star Wars
universe; one that would shed some
light on a brief, yet widely
unexplored era of the Star Wars
timeline. No. I'm talking about THE
CLONE WARS here, but rather THE
FORCE UNLEASHED. Instead of a
feature film or television series,
we are introduced to the
anti-hero-turned-hero, Starkiller (aka
Darth Vader's secret apprentice) via
the video game medium. Accompanying
the first chapter of this
saga-connecting-tale, was MARK
GRISKEY's adventurous score. Of THE
FORCE UNLEASHED, I wrote in 2008,
that it "was the best Star Wars
score since RETURN OF THE JEDI" and
to that I hold. While other current
incarnations of Star Wars tales have
opted to go in a different musical
direction (drifting all the further
from its classical origins), THE
FORCE UNLEASHED provided a
satisfactory musical bridge from the
Prequels to the Original Trilogy;
gracefully returning the franchise
to its musical roots.

Fast forward to 2010 and THE FORCE
UNLEASHED remains LucasArts fastest
selling game to date and while
having some minor,
star-destroyer-flaws, was an
adventurous joy to play. With those
kinds of sales , it was almost a
forgone conclusion that at least one
sequel would be coming our way. This
time; however, the stakes are higher
as expectations are higher. Star
Wars fans can hardly wait to
continue Starkiller’s journey and
for the Star Wars music fan, ears
tremble with anticipation at the
potential that lies in the expansion
and variation of existing ideas as
well as the introduction of new
themes into the Star Wars canon.
With such lofty goals and heavy
expectations comes STAR WARS: THE
FORCE UNLEASHED 2.

As part 2 of, what we hope will be
at least a 3-part story, one could
assume that THE FORCE UNLEASHED 2
might repeat tone and thematic ideas
found in the second-installments of
both film trilogies. One would be
right. Things take a turn for the
darker in this game sequel.
Starkiller’s journey takes us to
familiarly menacing settings like:
Kamino and Dagobah and crosses paths
with characters such as Boba Fett
and Yoda. The argument rages to this
day whether THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK
is the best of all the Star Wars
scores, but few argue that Williams’
ATTACK OF THE CLONES score is
anywhere in that conversation. So
then, with commonalities with both
second-act-films, where does THE
FORCE UNLEASHED 2 fall in terms of
it’s score?

CC:
I read STAR WARS: FORCE UNLEASHED...well I should
say I read half of it because I was actually playing
the game at the same time, and I was getting ahead
of my gameplay, because it's easier to read than
play games.

SEAN WILLIAMS: [laughs] That's right.

CC: So I actually stopped halfway through, because I
was getting ahead of myself and I was going to find
out what's going on in the game. But it was very
interesting in having the experience of reading a
book and playing a video-game because, just like
books and film or books and television, you get a
lot more detail with the books. I never got back to
finishing the book because I finished the game, but
I wanted to say what a great book that was, at least
the half that I read. I thought it was excellent.

SEAN WILLIAMS: Thanks very much! It was really an
interesting and difficult process of turning a
script for a game into a book.

CC: I imagine you were working closely with HAYDEN
BLACKMAN, who I think wrote the original screenplay
for the game. Is that true?

SEAN WILLIAMS: That's right. When I was brought onto
the project, the script was still being written. In
fact, even right up to when I was finishing my
draft, certain lines were being moved around. One
day, I was halfway through the book when they cut
three levels from the game. So there was
micromanaging and major structural changes happening
during the course of the writing, which was
challenging a really fascinating. Because a computer
game isn't a book, I tried to find a structure that
would work as a book, but still based on the game.
It was really challenging. There's still a somewhat
level-based sequence to it, but trying to find a
written narrative way to make that work was
intensely challenging. It was really fascinating for
me as a writer. I grew up reading adaptations of
movies, MELLON D. FOSTER novels and TERENCE DICKS
novels from Dr. Who, and I've always wanted to have
a go at a script.

"JOHN WILLIAMS, who is a living
legend, is the one who defined that sound. So there is a big
expectation there. The music needs to live up to his level. It can't
get too far away from what he has established." - Mark Griskey

Of
course, as with any good STAR WARS
episode, whether film, television
show or game, the associated music
has to go beyond "good."
Expectations are for the
spectacular. As a one-time LucasArts
staff member, MARK GRISKEY already
had KNIGHTS OF THE OLD REPUBLIC II:
THE SITH LORDS, under his belt as
well as contributions to games like:
EPISODE III: REVENGE OF THE SITH,
STAR WARS: RACERS REVENGE, and STAR
WARS: OBI-WAN. Even with such vital
experience, THE FORCE UNLEASHED had
to remain an incredible pressure in
living up to the John Williams
musical legacy. For LucasArts latest
effort, expectations have again
risen to the level of "spectacular"
and famed gaming company would
probably not have it any other way.
The final game score includes
extensive use of John Williams'
expansive library of music from the
six films and so GRISKEY's score had
the unenviable position of being set
right along some of the most
recognizable film music of all time.